1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a spinning style fishing reel, and more particularly, relates to an apparatus for rapidly moving a bail from a line retrieving position to a line casting position.
2. Background of the Prior Art
It is well known in the prior art that in spinning style fishing reels the bail must be moved by hand from the retrieve position to the cast position. This is true even in the highly successful current models of spinning reels having a self centering and anti-reverse mechanism such as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,020 invented by Richard L. Gifford and assigned to the common assignee of the present application. However, in such a spinning reel when the fisherman wants to cast the line he must use the hand that he normally uses to crank in the line to pivot the bail to the cast position. Releasing the crank to pivot the bail loses some control of the line and increases the time in getting off the next cast.
Recently, some attempts have been made to solve the problem by providing a pivoted finger grip on the rotor with a lever engaging off-center on the bail arm for leveraging the bail arm and bail from the retrieve to the cast position. The apparatus required relocating the orientation of the self-centering cast position of the rotor out of alignment with the mounting stem of the reel in order to get the clearance needed to pivot the bail fully open and to avoid interference between the finger grip lever and the stem. This system is convenient for a right-handed user but is very awkward for lefthanders. The finger grip and its mounting is relatively massive causing unbalance in the rotor. The finger grip is pivoted parallel to a tangent to the rotor and from one side only (somewhat cantilevered) which leads to breakage of the finger grip and, on occasion, binding of the finger grip. A torsion spring is used to provide the biasing force, which torsion spring is subject to frequent failure.
Another system on the market provides a pivoted finger grip for actuating the bail, which finger is pivoted about an axis generally radially of the rotor. The pivot is short and due to the angle of applied force when used, is subject to breakage. The system also necessitates relocating the self-centering cast position of the rotor offset from the axis of the stem with the same problem as described above, namely, it is fine for righthanders but unsuitable for lefthanders. Also torsion springs are used which are subject to frequent failure.
A still third current device uses a massive finger grip pivoted on the rotor about an axis parallel to a tangent to the rotor. The finger grip engages a cam pivoted on the bail ear and connected to the bail arm through a link connection for pivoting the bail arm and bail. A link connection and the use of a torsion spring both result in a device that has been less than satisfactory on the market. The massiveness of the device contributes to an unbalance of the rotor. The pivoting of the finger grip is from one side only (cantilevered) which can cause the finger grip to break off as well as to bind.